Common key & lock mistakes & How To Avoid Them

Common key & lock mistakes – And How To Avoid Them

Key & Lock mistakes

It has been a while since I have produced a blog helping you to avoid needing to call out people like me. So here is a short list of common, avoidable mistakes people make that might just help you not make those same mistakes, hopefully saving you time and money.

Safe Keys

Putting override keys inside your battery operated safe: Safes are great, but if you have a key operated safe, the safe is only as good as the place you hide the key. People are quite obvious in hiding places, so digital safes are a lot better then simple key turn safes. The only problem is that digital safes have master key overrides and the safest place for these keys is in the safe itself. But if you only use your safe rarely there is a good chance you will forget about it, It gets placed in a built in cupboard, covered in clothes and out of sight, out of mind. The batteries start to die and because it is covered in clothes, you don’t hear the warning beep and pretty soon, you have a keypad that you cannot use. Thankfully, you have override keys…. But they are inside the safe. At this point, you can call a domestic locksmith who will gain access by destroying your safe and you will have to pay him for the privilege. You then have to buy a new safe. Potentially £100s because you forgot to change the batteries and left the override keys inside the safe. You can try a safe specialist to come and pick the lock, but the cost might still be £100s because safe specialists are rare (the courses and equipment are expensive) and they don’t get many calls compared to standard locksmiths.

How to avoid disaster? Firstly, take those override keys and trust a family member/good friend to look after them for you. If their house gets broken into and a burglar finds your safe keys, they have no idea what safe they open or where it is. But if they find those keys in your house, they can get into your safe. So, get those keys away from your property. Surprisingly, now your keys are not easily accessible in your safe, you will be more likely to check your batteries! But don’t rely on that. Check how long your safe manufacturer says batteries should last and halve it. Write on the calendar when to change the batteries. Use the old batteries for something else, but keep new batteries in your safe. I love Autumn and Spring because we change our clocks and this gives us a great time to do other things like regular battery changes. Have a list of other maintenance things to do like pre-winter gutter cleaning, etc, and put safe battery changes on that list. This will ensure that if you do have to call someone to open your safe, it will be because something has gone wrong rather than having to explain an expensive memory failure.

Car keys on holiday

I wish I had a sum of money for every time someone called me to say they lost their keys on the beach and the spare car key is 400 miles away on the other side of the country… Oh wait, I do! When you drive somewhere on holiday, take your spare key. When you get to your hotel/air B&B/caravan, etc leave your key somewhere safe at your destination. If you lose your car key, it will be a lot cheaper to get a bus/cab back to your holiday base than it will to call an auto locksmith to come and make a new key on the spot for you. A lot quicker too. Even when you go out on a normal day, if you have someone with you, get them to carry the spare key. If you bring the spare out and leave it in the glove box, you are making life difficult for everyone except car thieves.

Letter boxes

Sticking with cars, most cars are stolen from driveways or outside homes using the keys which have been lifted – either because the front door is left unlocked, or the thief has fished the keys through the letter box. Tools for opening locked doors via the letterbox are getting cheaper, easier to use, and ever more sophisticated. Even if you have an angled guard, there is a tool that goes around it. You might think this is a step back to your Grandma’s house, but a letter basket with closing lid, is a great way to foil the letterbox thief. Better still, seal up the letterbox, and have an external box. If you have room, get one that is big enough for parcels, We get so much delivered these days, a lockable parcel box is a great idea. At the same time, door cams record anyone approaching your door and will have images sent to your phone before they can vandalize it. But I digress..

Copy keys

If you are renting out a holiday home or have multiple carers, etc, get a locksmith to install a new lock, with all new, branded additional keys tried and tested before the lock goes in. Almost every time I get called back to job where the lock has failed, the customer shows me  a key that has been copied elsewhere on some poor-quality blank. If you get keys copied and they foul up the lock, that is invalidating any guarantee the locksmith gives you, but if you are using additional keys supplied with the lock at time of installation, you are completely covered. But, if you must get copies made, make sure the original keys are the ones that get used most. I.E. let the guests use them. Yes, they might lose them (less likely if you request a deposit), but if they have poor quality keys and the lock fails and they are locked out waiting for a locksmith who destroys the lock getting in, the cost just multiplies. If you need multiple carers, please get a keysafe. It is better than having to collect keys later and ensures better keys are used.

5 lever locks

Know your terminology; there is a difference between a five lever mortice lock and a multipoint locking system. If you have a wooden door the mortice lock, (often called a ‘Chubb’ lock) is the one that should be 5 levers. If you look at the front plate, It will tell you that it is either 2, 3 5 levers and preferably will display a British Standard kite mark that tells you it has been tested against picking, drilling, sawing and most other forms of attack. If you have a door where you lift the handle and various hooks/bolts/mushrooms, etc. move, this is not a five lever lock. This is a multi-point locking system and your insurance is happy with that, which is bizarre because these systems are only as good as the locking barrel you put your key into and insurance companies are yet to wake up to how easy these can be to bypass. Again, digressing, but please talk to your local locksmith about kite-marked barrels. And if your architect/builder/designer tries to tell you these new multi-point doors without handles are a good idea, ignore them. When there is no handle, all the force of opening the door goes through the key. The leverage ratio is tiny compared doors with nice big handles, and at some point, you will snap your key in your lock.

Complacency

My last one for this blog; Just the other day, I fixed a basic lock on the top half of a stable door. It was not insurance compliant. When I challenged the customer regarding this and told him that his insurance company would not pay out if he were burgled, he replied with one I have heard often: ‘This is Norfolk. Although I know someone in the next village got burgled and lost a lot, it’s highly unlikely I will.’ So why pay for insurance at all? If you are paying for insurance, you owe it to yourself to make sure you are compliant. A second house this week is having three locks replaced after one has stopped working. I pointed out the three locks were all 3 lever and not insurance compliant, so the customer in this case, ordered new locks without delay. If you have an older house, don’t just assume the locks are up to spec. Most decent locksmiths do a free security check and, speaking for myself, when I do security checks I will tell you where advice is necessary and where advice is just personal recommendation.

This article about insurance required locks is quite good.

Should you have any questions regarding the above, please get in touch.

Thanks for reading

admin November 8, 2022

Lock & Key mistakes / Lock problems /

Smart ways to be secure

New Smart ways to be secure

Smart ways to be secure

No, I’m not talking about locks linked to your smart speaker. As world events make everything more expensive I’m talking about ways to shop smart. I thought this as recently I upgraded the security on a home in a local new build estate. Soon, I had a neighbour asking on recommendation for the same upgrade. That turned into five properties, all occupied by people who knew each other. For me, it was multiple journeys to the same area, multiple measuring visits, multiple ordering from my supplier and multiple deliveries. Had these people clubbed together, I could have done all the work in one day. I would have measured up all the properties on the same day beforehand, thus saving myself costs that I would have passed on to the customer. Those customers could have saved themselves £50 each by clubbing together on the labour charge.

Home security is important, but like everything else, the cost is rising. So if you are thinking of upgrading your locks, putting in some CCTV or an alarm, talk to your friends, If they are local, I will happily split a labour fee between you if it means I save on massive fuel bills. I will visit both your homes (or more) for free security checks, tailor the hardware recommendations personally and then when the work is done, split the labour cost evenly between you.

What about giving security as a gift? We all know a relative that might have outdated locks, don’t we? Well, why not club together with family members and buy them a security upgrade? (It could make a nice change from pants and socks or bathroom smellies.) You would be getting them something they would be using every day for a long time to come. On my rounds, I see so many older folk struggling with doors that have floppy handles or need a ‘knack’ to make the key work. Next time you visit Mum and Dad, plan something worthwhile for their next birthday or Christmas.

And just in case you were wandering how far this locksmith will travel, I am happy to come to you in North Walsham, Aylsham, Fakenham, Cromer, Stalham, and all the places in between. I even venture into Norwich.

My security checks are always free and there is never an obligation to take up my quote. 1st homes or 2nd homes, holiday lets or commercial properties, your security is my business.

Thanks for reading.

admin June 12, 2022

Security as a gift / Smart security /

When to call a locksmith

This is a piece I really should not have to write, but all too often, people call me out for reasons that could easily be avoided or they have called me out too late for an expensive repair, when avoiding the problem was possible.

Common reasons to avoid using a locksmith:

A C Locksmiths Norfolk

So, let’s start with cars. If you are going to lose your car keys, or lock them inside your car, the chances are, you are going to do it when your spare key is stuck back home at the opposite end of the country.  I have done a fair few jobs now where people have been on holiday/visiting distant relatives/doing distance work, etc and they leave their spare car key at home rather than bring it with them to leave in their temporary accommodation. Car entry is not cheap, and it might mean you lose a half day waiting for the auto locksmith to arrive, which will put a downer on your holiday, or might mean you have to see those distant relatives for longer than you wanted, or that you lose the sale you travelled halfway across the country to get. At the same time, please remember to actually remove the spare key from your car when you arrive at your destination. If you are locked out of your vehicle, having the spare in the glove box is no help.

The next common one with cars, is not having a spare. When I am cutting keys at local boot sales, people ask me about prices and sometimes, the spare key is as nearly as much as their second hand car cost them in the first place. But why buy a car with only one key, especially when that key is on its’ last legs? A bargain vehicle only remains a bargain if you can drive it. I also get to see some very sorry looking remote fobs for cars. Cloning a remote fob before it gets to be useless can be a lot cheaper than generating a complete new key from scratch, especially with Fords that must always have two separate keys programmed when starting from new. And, as I said above, a spare is useless if you keep it in the glove compartment.

Never, never, never put your car keys down in your boot area. So many people open their boot at the supermarket, put the keys just inside the boot and then load the shopping. They then close the boot, having not unlocked the rest of the car and are now locked out, often with the spare in the glove compartment! (Have I mentioned that common mistake?) If you are approaching your car, when you unlock your boot, make it a habit to unlock the doors as well. And do not put your keys down anywhere in your vehicle. It might not be cool to hang your keys from a belt loop, but it might just save you the cost of a weekly family shop if you don’t have to call the locksmith. When in and around your car, only let go of the keys when they are in the ignition, and you are sat comfortably ready to drive.

People make just as many mistakes in the home. Children should never be given keys to play with. Besides the whole hygiene issue, they have a nasty habit of sticking keys into keyholes that they were not built for, thus breaking the key and often the lock as well. While on the subject of kids, if you have a bathroom lock that is getting a bit stiff, have it repaired or replaced before a small child locks himself/herself in and you are faced with hours of panic waiting for the locksmith to arrive. I recently went to a job where a toddler had locked himself in the bathroom and the lock disintegrated, with the broken bits obstructing the bits that needed to move. You can imagine the stress that poor child was under when I came along with my noisy drills and hammers, taking my time to ensure nothing flew open into the child’s face.

Got a night latch (Yale type latch lock)? Don’t trust the snib to hold that latch back even if you are just popping into the garden for a few minutes. Take your key. Pets and children are very good at closing doors with enough vibration to release the latch and lock you out with themselves on the inside and pans on the cooker (it can and does happen).

If you have a door with a multipoint locking system, oil it twice a year. Make it part of your routine when you change the clocks in spring and autumn. Use a good quality lubricant and squirt it everywhere you can see moving parts (lift the handles up and down with the door open to see) and then, when you hold the handles down to retract the latch, you will see a small gap the allows you squirt more lubricant into the heart of the mechanism. Give this about a five second squirt and work the handles up and down a few times to get the lubricant into those moving parts. This simple exercise can save you a very expensive visit from your locksmith.

Lubricate all other locks as well. They get full of grit. Insects make nests behind handles and in lock cavities. Regular lubrication will keep your lock clean and lasting longer.

Finally, I get a lot of calls from customers telling me their key works on one side of the lock (Chubb/mortice locks), but not the other. My first reaction is to tell them to try a different key and more often than not, that sorts out the problem. They have just managed to bend a prong on the key itself. Always check other keys before thinking your lock is broken. Not all locksmiths will give you a free solution over the phone.

 

If you have any questions regarding the information above, or have any other issues, please get in touch via my contacts page.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

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admin October 9, 2017

auto locksmith Norfolk / Lost car keys / stolen keys / Who you gonna call? A C Locksmiths /

When do you need a locksmith?

When do you need a locksmith?

Locksmith superhero

Firstly, let me say that I am not trying to do myself out of work, but I have attended a surprising number of jobs where I was not actually required at all. I thought I’d give you two examples – and maybe they could help others save some money:

The first was to a sliding patio door that was double glazed. Everything worked fine in the open position, but when the door was closed, the mechanism just would not lock. I immediately started looking for all sorts of things around the locking part of the door, but all seemed to be in good working order. Then I did what I should have done from the start. I stood back and looked at the whole door. The answer was obvious. My customer had an insect curtain made up of lots of thin wispy strands that hung down. A few of these wispy strands had got caught between fixed section and sliding section of the door, and were stopping it from going the last millimetre that would allow the door to lock. In just a few seconds I had everything working again, but this highlights that before calling a locksmith, a quick look at your door for any obstuctions could save you money.

The second case needs a little explaining. Among the many types of insect curtain around at the moment, are magnetic ones that magically close themselves behind you as you pass through. They are great, and can be obtained quite cheaply. At night, you simply tie them back like curtains. But, if you have a double glazed door, when you tie them back, you are moving the magnets closer to the metal keeps in the frame, and here is where danger happens. My customers had tied back their insect curtain and shut the door, not knowing one of the magnets had attached itself to the door frame. As they engaged the locking mechanism, the magnet was torn from its place in the curtain and pushed into the hole where one of the mechanism hooks slid into place. Somehow, the magnet managed to get on top of the hook, and wedged, making the door un-openable. Not knowing any of this until I found the magnet, made the job very frustrating as there was no apparent reason for the door not to work.
So, if you have a magnetic insect curtain, be sure it is not stuck to the frame in any place before you lock the door.

 If you have any questions about the above, or if you do run into lock problems and cannot find an obvious cause, or you simply need help with them, please do not hesitate to get in touch via any of the ways on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading

admin August 13, 2015

Checking your locks / saving money /

When do you need a locksmith?

I am writing this piece in light of a recent job I attended. I travelled around 40 minutes to a job which was a problem with a double glazed door that was not locking. When I got there, I had fixed the problem before the customer finished explaining it to me. All that had happened was that a screw had come loose, and the part that the latch goes into on the door frame was at a slight angle, meaning the latch was going out all the way when the door was closed. In some upvc door mechanisms, this stops the door from locking. It took seconds to fix. Because I was sub-contracting to a national company, the customer had to pay the full cost, which with VAT was over £100.

AC Locksmiths Norfolk

So, I decided to put together a little check list and fix it yourself solution piece so you can save yourself some money if your mechanism goes wrong:

Fix your locks

  • The first thing to check is that your locking mechanism works. This is the easy bit. Open the door and lift the handles. Turn the key to lock it. If all goes smoothly, then the problem is not with the mechanism. Repeat this a few times to be sure. If it is hard to lift the handles or the key does not turn easily, look to see if there is any sign of rust or dirt build up, especially near the bottom. If so, then give it a clean, squirt some oil into every part you can and try again. If you are still having problems at this point, call a locksmith.
  • Supposing the mechanism is working fine, your next task is to check the door has not dropped, or warped in sunlight. With the handles pulled down, slowly close the door. You will see and feel if the door is rubbing against the frame anywhere. If it is, then it is possible that you can adjust the door. Most modern upvc door have hinges that can be adjusted. Look for small plastic caps on the hinges. If you remove these, they should reveal a place to insert an allen key. Turn the key one half turn in one direction with the door open. You should see door move one way or the other slightly. Try to close the door. If it catches more, turn the allen key back to its original position and then another half turn the other way. This should make it easier. Repeat this process until the door closes without rubbing against the door frame. Remember, if you are moving the bottom of the door one way, you may need to move the top of the door the other way to make it straight. And only do half turns each time. This can be a tricky process, so unless you feel confident, call a locksmith to do this for you. On older upvc doors that are pinned through the hinges, you might notice that the hinges are bent. This is a job for the professional – possibly a upvc repair engineer would be your best bet, although some locksmiths do undertake this work as well.
  • So now we have a door that closes without catching on the frame, but still will not lock. In most cases, there is something to adjust. If the door has sliding rollers, you will see they have slots for allen keys. You can rotate these to make a slight difference. Only turn a quarter turn before testing to see if it makes a difference and do this for the complete circle to find out which position is best.
  • For hooks, bolts and latches, the adjustment is with the keeps on the door frame itself. There is usually something you can turn with either a screw driver or allen to help the moving part of the mechanism fit better. Here it is trial and error until you get the feel of what helps where.
  • If the door is still not locking after you have fiddled and adjusted, always taking note of original positions, it might be time to get creative. This is the point where you need to remove the keeps from the door frame, one by one to see which one is causing the problem. Every time you take one off, try the door until it locks. If your luck is like mine sometimes, you will them all off before you find the culprit. Replacing the offending keep a few millimetres lower usually solves the problem. Put the remaining keeps back one at a time and test the door with each replacement just in case one or more of the others is also causing a problem.

If none of these measures rectifies your problem, or you are not comfortable with carrying out the tasks, then call your local locksmith. There are still things that could potentially be causing the problem, but hopefully by the time you get to this, you will know you have done all you can to save yourself paying out money needlessly.

If you have any questions regarding the above, please get in touch via any of the methods on my contacts page.

Thanks for reading.

admin June 18, 2015

Door lock checklist /

Look after your locks!

Why you should look after your locks –

Most of us pay little attention to our locks until they go wrong, or need upgrading. Yet besides our mobile phones, they are one of our most used items. When you stop to think about how much abuse we put our locks and doors through, it’s a wonder they last as long as they do. Many of us have locks and doors that are barely holding together and the first we know about it, is when they fail completely and we are left locked out.

 A C Locksmiths

The industry recommends that we change our locks every five years, but that can be very expensive, so servicing is important to keep your locks running in tip-top condition. Here is a rundown of the various problems that can arise;

The common enemy of all locks and doors is the weather. Rain holds in wooden doors and causes rusting to metal parts. Nearer the coast, sand and grit finds its way into locks and locking mechanisms. The worst affected of all are wooden doors with multi-point locking mechanisms. I often find these with severe rust at the bottom, especially when there is a bolt that can sit in a mini pool of water. I have had more cases of this than I can remember, and most times the mechanism finally sticks fast in the locked position, leading to many problems in trying to get the door open without damage. Simple maintenance can prevent high repair costs if dealt with properly.

Night Latches (Yale Locks), are quite prone to internal wear. The big problem with these is that some of the more complex ones can be difficult to remove from the door, and even harder to re-affix. Cheaper versions of these locks are prone to spring failures and loose latch buttons are my most common reason for emergency call outs, especially with holiday homes. If you own a holiday home, maintenance is a tax recoverable cost, so you have no reason to not have your locks serviced, preferably at the beginning and end of the high season. Not only is this good practice, it reduces the chances of your customers having part of their holiday ruined having to wait for a locksmith to arrive and then carry out the work required.

Mortice locks (Chubb) have a whole host of potential problems, most caused by bad initial installation. If the lock keep is not placed correctly within the door frame, or the door swells, moving the lock position, then undue pressure required to turn the key, starts to wear the locking levers inside the lock, or if you are using cheaper copy keys, these can wear too. All of this eventually leads to a case of the lock seizing, usually in the locked position with you on the outside, desperate to get in. This often means the lock needs to be drilled to gain access, leaving unsightly holes in your door.

Another problem that occurs is when locks are replaced, a different brand is used. If the new lock is slightly too wide for the hole it is going into, the lock gets a bit squashed, which causes uneven working of the inner parts, and eventually, seizure. If the new lock is too thin for the hole, the screws that hold the lock together can loosen and the lever springs can escape through the gap as the lock separates. If there is any sign of stiff operation with these locks, they should be checked out immediately, including instances where the door must be pushed/pulled to ensure the lock operates and especially those instances where you have to have a special knack of operation. An example of this came to light for me recently when a customer told me he could only unlock his door by apply pressure up and to the left when rotating the key. We worked out this was the case with certain copy keys that had ben copied badly and that the originals worked fine.

The cylinders of multi-point locks can only be treated with a little oil squirted into the keyway, but the mechanisms themselves need much more. There are various points that can be tweaked and adjusted to ensure these things run smoothly. Remember, the handles should lift and the key should turn nearly as easily in the closed position as it does in the open position. As the problem can build over time, many people don’t realise they are using extra force to lift the handles unless they try the door open as well as closed. French doors and over sized doors are particularly prone to dropping.

Aluminium doors are a completely different problem. Nearly always the mechanism is sealed within the door itself and, at best, difficult to get into. If you have an aluminium door and are experiencing problems of any kind, you will need to look for a double glazing repair specialist who deals with metal doors. Be prepared for the possible cost of full door replacement as parts are often obsolete. I have had occasions where people have not even realised their doors are aluminium, you probably know whether your door is aluminium, but I will just give a couple of indicators just in case: Aluminium doors tend to be silver or black and often are built into a dark wood surround, whereas upvc doors are usually white or brown and do not have a wood surround. Hardly any new doors are aluminium (although there are still some manufacturers) so if the double glazed units in your home are aluminium, and they were fitted before you took possession, remember they are probably old and might need looking at.

Rim Locks are the locks that bolt on to the inside of doors and have very long keys, as those keys need to pass all the way through the door form the outside and then into the lock. The door knob is to one side of the key hole rather than above it. These locks are designed for internal use, but I do see many of them on front/back doors so I think they deserve a mention. Firstly, these are not insurance standard locks, so if your does not have another type of lock in addition to one of these, you are not covered by insurance. Besides that, these are vary basic locks, often easy to open with a standard key available to anyone else who has bought one of these locks. The internal parts of these locks are also easy to bend out of shape, but seem to break keys before they ever bend back again. It is much better to invest in a better standard of lock if you have one these.

As we have just come out of winter, now is the best time to check your locks. Lock servicing programmes are available on a tailor made basis to suit your needs. Please call to discuss your personal requirements. You can find my number on the contacts page of this web site.

Thanks for reading.

admin April 20, 2015

Looking after your locks! / saving money /

Winter Lock Maintenance

Just recently, a well known chain of shops who specialise in things like car parts, bikes and camping equipment, etc., have been offering free winter checks for your car. As soon as my wife saw it, she told me, I should take my car in. . . .  I put it off. She told me again.. . . .  I put it off again. She told me more forcefully, especially when she knew I had passed the shop.

Eventually, I relented and took my car for its winter check. Surprise, surprise, the free winter check resulted in me having to buy stuff like oil and power steering fluid. And the thing is, I knew it would, that’s why I was putting it off. But as it turns out, my oil was really low. It might not have been long before I did some serious damage to my engine, and that would have really cost me money, not only on my vehicle, but lost business, etc. So, let’s accept that the shop in question is doing this free check because they know it will generate business, but I must say, they do it in a great way. There was no; “You must buy our products,” or “Our products are better for your car.” No, it was a simple check and I was shown what was needed. If I wanted to go elsewhere, that was fine. At the end of the day, I could have done all the checks myself, and then got the stuff I needed from anywhere, but again, I was putting it off, because I knew that as soon as I did that check, it would cost me money.

AC Locksmiths Norfolk

Look after your locks;

Now I am ashamed to admit, that I was guilty of doing the same thing I see my customers doing with locks. We can feel when they are not working right, and yet time and again, we know that if we get them looked at, or recognise there is a problem, it will cost money. But the alternative could be so much worse. When your locks get stiff (and many do this time of year), adjusting small bits now, could potentially save you the cost of a new lock.

I worked on a multi-point locking mechanism this week that was nearly seized up. The customer had taken ten minutes that morning to get the thing open. Now, I had fitted this mechanism a few years ago and know that when I fitted it I told the customer to oil it every six months. But the customer didn’t want to buy a can of oil spray just to use every now and then. And so they waited until things got difficult, incurring my labour charge rather than a few quid and a minute every six months. It could have been worse, because the unit could have failed completely and that would have cost even more! I know what it is like to have to juggle the pennies, but by catching problems early, it makes financial sense to get them sorted when the cost will be minimal.

Health checks aren’t just for people –

So, if your locks are showing any sign of being problematic, call me for a free health check. Honestly, I know I am coming to your house because the problem will likely make me a little money, but the chances are, it will save you more money in the long run, so we both win. And if you listen to what I say and think you can deal with the problem yourself, or want to get any products elsewhere, that’s fine too. 

I recently upgraded a customer’s locks as they did not meet insurance standards. Her friend wanted the old locks for some internal doors and I was happy to help, I even gave the old locks a service to keep them running longer. The point is, I am not going to insist you have new products or even have me to do the work. I will give you honest advice, and if you accept my advice I will carry out the work in the most cost effective way for you.

If you have any questions or wish to arrange a security check or lock health check, please contact me via any of the means on the contacts page.

Thanks for reading

admin February 6, 2015

Lock maintenance / saving money /

Tips of the locksmith trade.

Recently I was called out to a job that was easy for me to sort out as I have the experience and know-how of what to do. Had I been faced with the same problem before I became a locksmith, I would have been stuck, so here is some (hopefully) useful information that might save you having to call me (or, worse still, one of my more expensive competitors) – therefore saving you money. Some readers might find these tips obvious, but believe me, these are all things I have been called out for.

So starting with my most recent call; I was faced with a wooden door where the handle had gone limp on the outside of a mortice (“Chubb”) type lock. Although it was unlocked, the handle just spun around without pulling back the latch part of the lock and the customer could not get in. To an untrained eye, this looks pretty dire, but I quickly removed the handle plate and saw that the spindle that connects the handles through the door and operates the latch was only just showing through the lock. To the customer, it looked as if the spindle had snapped. This was not the case. Quite simply, when the lock had been fitted, too short a spindle had been used and over time it had worked its way through the lock until it eventually came out of the handle on the outside. I carry spindles of various lengths and was able to rectify the situation. I have also known this to happen with UPVC doors. Your own doors might very well have this same problem and you will know nothing about it until the spindle finally slips out of either handle. So it is a good idea to check your own doors and if your spindle is to short, it should be replaced with one of the correct size, or in an emergency, some thin cardboard could be rolled up and used to pack out the insides of the handles, stopping the spindle from moving, although you should remember this might be hard to get back out when you do get the longer spindle.

The next thing that happens a lot is with UPVC doors. I once had a case where, the customer could not make the mechanism engage. When I arrived, I found the floor mat had moved and was jammed underneath the door, meaning the door was not closed properly and the hooks and rollers could not engage properly. I moved the mat and the problem was solved in less than five seconds. Unfortunately this was done under sub-contract and therefore cost the customer a lot of money. But it does highlight how easily these doors move and can become problematic.

There are various things you can do to give UPVC doors a new lease of life;

  • If the handles are stiff then adjustments need to be made, but sometimes the stiffness builds up over time so you might not notice it. Therefore a good test is to open the door and lift the handles while it is open. Now do the same thing again with the door closed. If it is much stiffer with the door closed, then adjustments need to be made.
  • Firstly look for where signs of wear on any of the exposed moving parts and their respective keeps in the door frame as this will give you an idea of where to start, but before you do anything, give every nook and cranny a good dose of oil and then mark off a point on your calendar to do the same thing every six months or so.
  • Most doors have rollers on the leading edge of the door mechanism. You will see a hexagonal hole for an Allen key that turns this roller. There will also be a small line from one edge of the hexagon to the outer edge of the roller. If this line is down, the roller is in its low position. If the line is up, it is in its upper position. Using the Allen key, you can rotate these rollers to see if it makes any difference to how easy the handles are to lift. You may find these a little stiff which is good because they should not move easily.
  • If you want to be really brave, then the next step is to adjust the hinges. Most newer doors have hinges that wrap over one side of the door, and you can usually find a small cap on these that when removed, allows you to access another Allen key hole. If you rotate the Allen key through 180 degrees, and watch the edge of the door by the hinge you are working on (there will be three or four), you should see the door move away from or towards the door frame (note: you will need the door to be slightly open for this). Once you have done one half turn, close the door and try the handles again. If they are harder to engage, rotate the Allen key the other way and repeat to see if the handles are easier now. If there is no difference, move the Allen key back to the original position and try a different hinge. You will soon get the idea of which hinge need to go which way. However, if you are going to try this yourself, be prepared for it to take a while as it can take some time to get right and don’t be afraid to call the professionals.
  • Some doors also have adjustable keeps in the frame. As these are very varied, I will just say have a good look and if you feel out of your depth, call your local locksmith.
  • Finally, if you have an older UPVC door without adjustable hinges, there is a last-ditch thing to try. Unscrew all of the keeps from the frame and close the door. Lift the handles to make sure it now engages smoothly. Next put the keeps back one at a time and each time you do, close the door and lift the handles. If the handles work ok then that keep is good, If the handles are stiff again, then that keep needs to be either raised or lowered, usually by only a few millimetres. Secure the keep with its top and bottom screws and try the handle again. If they are harder to engage then you need to reposition the keep in the opposite direction, i.e. if you moved it up, you need to move it down and vice versa. Now try again.
  • With mortice (Chubb) locks and nightlatches (Yale), the main tricks are maintenance – so oil them on a regular basis with a healthy dose of spray oil. But wooden doors expand and contract with the weather, so be aware that if the key is becoming difficult to turn, or you have to push against the door to operate the lock, then simply moving the keep will ease this problem, but again, only move it a few millimetres or else the door may rattle in the wind.

Should you have any questions about carrying out work for yourself on your doors, I am happy to help so please feel free to call my mobile number as it appears on my contacts page. If I am not in the middle of a job myself, I will be happy to talk you through any process. 

Thanks for reading.

admin April 23, 2014

Home maintenance / Locksmith tips / saving money /

Lock Maintenance

At last the days are noticeably longer and snowdrops & daffodils are out in bloom, signalling that spring is here. Many of us are looking forward to the summer holidays and dreading the big spring clean. Hopefully the worst of the wet weather is behind us and we can start those little jobs we have all been putting off. And that should include maintaining our locks.

We rely on our cars to get us to work and therefore keep checks on oil, water tyre pressure, etc. We rely on our locks to keep our homes and valuables safe, so why do we just let them deteriorate when just a few minutes basic work can keep them going for much longer, saving you money in the long run.

So let’s start with the ones that really get the weather: Garden sheds usually have the more basic locks or padlocks. Being at the cheaper end of the market, these are more susceptible to rust, so give them a good squirt with oil everywhere you can find a hole. This also loosens grit that can wear down the internal moving parts.

With Night Latches (referred to often as ‘Yale’ type locks) the only exposed area is usually just the part where the key goes in. But again, giving this a good squirt with oil can revitalise the lock. If the door opens outwards, or there is any way the weather can get to the inside, then this should be oiled as well. This will involve undoing some screws to take it off, but do this slowly so you can see how it goes back on. Once the night latch is off of the door, you will be able to see good areas into which you can squirt some oil.

For UPVC doors, the entire mechanism that runs down the leading edge of the door needs to be oiled. There are lots of working parts here, and they are prone to grit and small breakages inside that can stop the system working. If you know how to remove a cylinder, take it out to really get oil inside the main working part. If you don’t know how to do it, it might be worth paying a locksmith or double glazing fitter to show you how so you can maintain it yourself. Remember, a small cost now could save you a much larger cost later. And a good tradesman will show you how to take care of these doors.

For mortice (referred to as ‘Chubb’) type locks the need for regular oiling becomes very clear if ever you take one out of the door. They seem to magnetise dust and soak up moisture from wet doors causing rust. So if you have a mortice lock with handles (called a ‘Sash Lock’) pull the handle down, which retracts the latch, then squirt a good amount of oil into the hole. This should give the inside a basic rinse. If your mortice lock is of the simple ‘turn key to open’ style (called a ‘dead lock’) then this can be a bit more tricky to get into. You really have to squirt into the small gap between the bolt and the lock casing.

The other thing to be looking out for with the change of weather is locks getting more difficult to operate. I have spoken about this in previous blogs, but if your lock becomes difficult to work for any reason, then you should call a locksmith. A small labour charge now is better than hoping the problem will go away, because if you break the mechanism, especially on UPVC doors, it can get very costly. If your handles have gone a bit floppy, this is the first visual sign that things have already gone too far and at any point you could find yourself locked out.

If you would like further advice on any of the above issues, please get in touch via our contacts page or give us a call 07846 64317607846 643176

Thanks for reading.

admin March 25, 2014

Lock maintenance / Saving costs with locks /

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